What really happened in the South Somerset housing market in October?

Welcome to this month's local property report where we tell you exactly what is happening in the local property market.

There is a continued adjustment taking place in the housing market locally as sales volumes are continuing to fall across the board. This is not being helped by many agents still continuing to overvalue properties and then tie people in to long contracts. The ensuing price reductions are leading to many good buyers watching for the next reduction before making an offer thus costing the sellers a lot more in lost value. There are still many god buyers in the market who are keen to buy now and we are still seeing good applicant numbers. The days of “chuck it on Rightmove and it will sell” are long gone and it is back to good old fashioned estate agency and creating sales. Something that many new entrants to the business will not have experienced before! We have also seen more trouble in the online agency business with Emoov having recently made public their financial difficulties and Connells having closed their Hatched online business saying that they could not make it work.

We’ve analysed what happened in October. Our information is taken from the intelligence reports we get daily from Rightmove and Zoopla.

How many houses sold in South Somerset in October?

In October 2018, 174 properties sold (stc) in South Somerset. 178 were sold in the same time period in 2017 so ... There has been a decrease from September 2018, when 182 properties were sold. ... The biggest difference compared to 12 months ago is the decrease of sales between over £250,001 and £500,000. It has gone down from 103 sales to 94 sales this year - almost a 9% decrease. This is also reflected in the longer timescales that properties are remaining on the market in this price range. Often caused by an initial over valuation.

There is still strong demand in the market for properties that are correctly priced. Whilst the government continue to punish landlords with punitive tax measures and increasing red tape many have withdrawn from the letting market, this has led to a well predicted reduction in rental properties and this is pushing rental values up quite dramatically. This has led to many renters now making the move to home ownership and this represents an increase in first time buyer market.

What type of property sold?

I always like to see what has actually sold. Terraces are still the most popular selling home in South Somerset and there were 2 more sales in the terrace market this month compared with last month. Apartments sales were up by 8 however the biggest surprise was the decrease in sales for detached homes which was down by 6.

On a positive note at Orchards Estates we saw a number of homes achieve a sale (stc) thanks to our Switching, Simply service in October. Chudleigh Mill in Yeovil achieved full asking price and Milcote in Merriott achieved 97% of asking price after only 3 days with Orchards after months with another agent. The Old Off Licence in South Petherton achieved well in excess of the guide price with around 20 viewings at our open home event! It shows if you get your presentation right, your home will not only sell but achieve the best possible price. Why not find out more about this?

In October, the village sales were down compared to last month by 10, which seems like a big drop. Crewkerne sales also were down by 7 but in Martock, with the loss of an agent from the high street, sales were up by 4.

If you would like to keep up to date with the local property market, check out our website www.orchardsestates.co.uk. If you’d like any moving advice and how we are getting houses sold despite the drop in property searches online - please get in touch. At Orchards Estates, we are here to help. Call us on 01935 277977 or 01460 477977.